Kelsey Watts, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Biomedical Engineering and Genome Sciences

Contact

kmwatts@virginia.edu

Lab

West Complex

Google Scholar Civelek Lab

About

Kelsey Watts is a postdoctoral fellow in Mete Civelek’s lab focused on understanding and testing novel treatments for coronary artery disease. She is involved in a clinical trial with the head of UVA’s Women’s Heart Health Care Center, Dr. Patricia Rodriguez-Lozano, to investigate the use of an SGLT2i to treat inflammation in women with nonobstructive coronary artery disease. Additionally, through collaborations with the Leducq network AtheroGen, she is aims to identify transcriptomic mechanisms that govern known sex differences in plaque stability. Her holistic training includes expertise in wet lab, computational and clinical research.

As a postdoc at UVA, Watts has been funded by a T32 training grant (2023-2025) through the Cardiovascular Research Center. She was also awarded an AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship (2025-2027). Additionally, Watts received several awards to fund her research, including the UVA Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research Postdoc Scholar Award (2024-2025) and the AtheroGen Leducq Junior Investigator Award (2024 and 2025).

Watts received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University training in the lab of Dr. Will Richardson. Her dissertation research focused on uncovering sex-specific mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis, specifically the influence of estrogen. Kelsey also has a strong interest in making STEM education more inclusive. She completed a Certificate in Engineering and Science Education from Clemson during her Ph.D. training and developed education modules and lesson plans in systems biology for those new to computational biology approaches.

Education

Ph.D. Bioengineering, Clemson University, 2022

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University 2017

Research Interests

Sex Differences

Cardiovascular Disease

Women's Health

Selected Publications

Emerging Pathway to a Precision Medicine Approach for Angina With Nonobstructive Coronary Arteries in Women. JACC: Advances 3 (8), 101074 Nisha Hosadurg , Kelsey Watts , Shuo Wang , Kelly E. Wingerter , Angela M. Taylor , Todd C. Villines , Amit R. Patel , Jamieson M. Bourque , Jonathan R. Lindner , Christopher M. Kramer , Garima Sharma , and Patricia F. Rodriguez Lozano

JACC

Computational screen for sex-specific drug effects in a cardiac fibroblast signaling network model. Scientific Reports 13 (1), 17068 KM Watts, W Nichols, WJ Richardson

Nature Scientific Reports

Effects of sex and 17 β-estradiol on cardiac fibroblast morphology and signaling activities in vitro. Cells 10 (10), 2564 K Watts, WJ Richardson

Cells

Inclusive pedagogy strategies to introduce high schoolers to systems biology. Biomedical Engineering Education 4 (1), 87-96 K Watts, W Richardson

Biomedical Engineering Education

Awards

Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research Post-Doctoral Scholar Research Grant 2024-2025

UVA Cardiovascular Research Center (National Institutes of Health) T32 Fellowship 2023-2025

American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship 2025-2027

Clemson University Department of Bioengineering Page Morton Hunter Bioengineering Graduate Research Award

American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship 2021-2022

Featured Grants & Projects

Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research Post-Doctoral Scholar Research Grant 2024-2025 Identification of the regulatory effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors on inflammatory pathways in ANOCA patients.

Link